Rechercher

09/01/2014

The recording of this song at Abbey Road studios was transmitted world-wide (I saw it at the time!!!) as part of the first global TV link-up, "Our World", to an estimated audience of 400 million.***The song features exerpts from the Bach's Brandenburger concertos, the French National Anthem "La Marseillaise", "Greensleeves" (1960 oldie by The Brothers Four) and She Loves You.***George Martin, also used a segment of the Glenn Miller Orchestra's In The Mood, thinking it was out of (C).***He was later successfully sued for a royalty settlement by Miller's publishers.***In addition to 13 session musicians [some of them playing Bach's Trumpets], friends on backing vocals were Mick Jagger, Keith Richard(s), Marianne Faithfull, Eric Clapton, Keith Moon, Jane Asher, Paul's brother Mike McGear from The Scaffold, The Walker Brothers' Gary Leeds and finally Graham Nash and his wife. (Our world, June 25, 1967.) All You Need Is Love recorded during a LIVE WORLD TELEVISION TRANSMISSION (original live Odeon O 23 560, Germany.) Video below.

13/11/2013

Bill Haley is the man in the blue jacket. At his right, his friend of all time, Mr. Rudy Pompilli (real house hold name : Pompillii.)

Pictures : CC-BY - 2.0 Belgium

The song Rock Around The Clock was written and composed in November 1952 by Jimmy De Knight (aka James E. Myers) in collaboration with composer "freelance" , Max C. Freedman . It is likely , as was common at the time a publisher has offered Rock Around The Clock Dave Miller , owner of Essex Records in Chester ( Pennsylvania ) or someone around him but nobody ever wanted . It is finally Sonny Dae (aka Paschal Vennitti ) and His Knights in Chester which record the song in October 1953. Rock Around The Clock comes out ARCADE (45- AR- 123), a small label owned by Jack Howard in March 1954. (*) RATC sells for at least a thousand copies in the Delaware Valley , but it is not distributed nationally ( coast to coast ) lack of interest in a Major. Despite his insistence , "on" denied him the right to record (not even in the demo ) . Finally released from his contract with Essex Records, "Bill Haley and His Comets" will save RATC April 12, 1954 at the Pythian Temple in New York City. Bill Haley was so late ( arriving from the neighboring state , New Jersey ) for the record that he had to be back there twice which cost three hours of studio ( thin! Price to cost one hour. ..) . The disc is distributed by Decca ( ​​the 78s 29124 ) and Decca ( ​​the single 9-29124 ) " coast to coast " simultaneously with another country located in Western Europe : Belgium ! DECCA Label 9.60.961 B side of Pinball Boogie Red Foley ( 10 May 1954 ) . But back about seven months ago : Bill Haley , great musician and multi-instrumentalist ( guitar , slap bass ) has a flair like no other and he believes in this song . At the end of September 53 , he added to his repertoire and playing for the first time in public in the name of the time "Bill Haley With Haley's Comets" in the resort of Wildwood -by-the -Sea Hotel Hofbrau in southern New Jersey ( **) . A few months later , Rock Around The Clock does not take long to rank No. 23 in the Billboard Pop chart of May 29, 1954 (***) ... The following is part of the history of the "Popular Music" . .. Sources: (*) Billboard magazine , March 20, 1954 (**) Jersey City : Da Capo Press, 1987 ( ***) The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits . New York: Billboard Publications , 1984. To enhance this topic , I added two pictures that I took at the Conservatoire de Liège 05/14/74 . First photo : From left to right: Ray Cawley , bass and vocals - Rudy Pompilli , tenor sax - Freddy Moore , drums - Bill Haley, rhythm guitar and vocals - Nick Masters ( Nastos ) , solo guitar, Spanish guitar and vocals and behind back but invisible : Ray Parsons , steel and lead guitar , vocals . Wilwood-by-the-Sea : here's the source : http://www.visitnj.org/trip-idea/birthplace-rock-n-roll

March 1968: The Dakotas split and Kramer continues his cabaret career as a soloist. He releases a cover of Nilsson's 1941 on NEMS Records, which gains much UK airplay but no chart place.

Aug. 1968: He will also revive A world without love which is not the Lennon/McCartney song on NEMS 56-3635 later in the year, before moving to MGM Records for another unsuccessful one-off, The colour of my love.

19/09/2012

March 1963 : Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas are signed to Parlophone by EMI's George Martin. Liverpool songwriter Ralph Bowdler offers She's My Girl to record, but because of the Epstein connection, the group has access to Lennon and McCartney's songs and chooses I'll Be On My Way, on which The Beatles have passed, and Do You Want To Know A Secret?, just recorded by The Beatles for their first album.

June: Debut single hits UK #2 behind The Beatles' From Me To You. On the single, the "J." is inserted into Kramer's name for the very first time to distinguish him from other singers named Billy. This idea is credited to John Lennon. Released in UK as a single and an EP (Parlophone R 5023; GEP 8885 including also Bad To Me and I Call Your Name.) UK #13.

Oct.18, 1968 : following an appearance at the National Jazz & Blues Festival in August, Joe embarks on a 10-date UK tour starting at the Newcastle Rutherford, Tyne & Wear. Including a Dec.8 gig with The Who and Arthur Brown. Tour will end Dec.20 at the Redcar Jazz club, Yorkshire.

22/06/2012

Left to right : US album #11 in Nov. 1969; US single A&M 1147, 11/1969 : Feb. 7, 1970 : this song reaches US #30 and earns a gold disk. The album which includes i.a. She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, Something, Let It Be is the last one featuring The Grease Band.

Other single references : GER Deutsche Grammophon Polydor 59 386, 11/1969; NL EMI Stateside 5 C 006-91012 M is released on Jan.2, 1970 and reaches the NL chart #18 the same month. Unissued in the UK.

French Joe Cocker! LP on EMI Stateside 2 C 062-90788, 1970.

Biography pt 3 : when Cocker returns to the UK he no longer has a recording contract, so takes up his Gas Board job again and plays only an occasional local gig. The Big Blues splits and Joe teams with Chris Stainton to write and record Marjorine and form The Grease Band in the course of 1964.

1965 : The Grease Band, with Cocker on vocals, Stainton on bass, Tommy Eyre on keys, Kenny Slade on drums and Alan Spenner and Henry McCullough both on guitars, play soul material in clubs and pubs across the North of England. Its first recording, a live version of blues standard "Saved", is on a a free flexidisk with the Sheffield University magazine TWIKKER...To be continued...

23/03/2012

1964 : after an audition for producer Mike Leander in Manchester, Gtr. Manchester, Joe Cocker is offered a contract with DECCA Records. He takes leave of absence from the Gas Board and travels to Decca's studio in London. He debuts with a version of Lennon/McCartney's I'll Cry Instead released on 4 September 1964. Despite a good performance and session help including i.a. Big Jim Sullivan and Jimmy Page (called at the time "Little Jim") on guitars; Bobby Graham on drums and The Ivy League on backing vocals (Peter Oakman on double bass ?), it flops and Cocker reportedly only 10 shillings in royalties. He joins his first professional band, The Big Blues, on a brief UK Tour with Manfred Mann and The Hollies and then tours US army bases in France. To be continued...

30/10/2011

B. John Robert Cocker, May 20, 1944, near Sheffield, S. Yorks, UK. In 1960 having left school, buys a cheap drumkit and forms a skiffle group with schoolfriends. He plays in brother Victor's skiffle group The Cavaliers at night, making his first public appearance at the Minvera Tavern in Sheffield. 1963 : when The Cavaliers change their name to Vance Arnold & The Avengers, Cocker steps out front and sings, changing his forename to Joe, after Cowboy Joe. He also sits in with local bands like Dave Berry & The Bruisers. To be continued...

Nov.6, 1968 : his distinctive cover of The Beatles With A Little Help From My Friends hits UK #1 for a week (Regal Zonophone HSS 1308, October 1968). Picture cover from France (EMI/Stateside FSS 612, October 1968. Belgium #11, 11/1968.

The Beatles are impressed with his version and send him a congratulatory telegram and place music press ads praising the record.

Subsequent TV exposure introduces a wider audience to Cocker's flailing, tortured stage movements (that we say today he was the inventor of the AIR GUITAR). Some find his performance distasteful and when he appears on the "Ed Sullivan Show", he is obscured by dancers as he sings.

Dec.14, 1968 : With A Little Help From My Friends peaks at US Billboard Top 100 #68.

11/11/2010

Still at the same place on 27 October 2010 - Get Back...Jo Jo=>from an idea of a Chuck Berry's song Jo Jo Gunne (10/1958).

26.04.1969 : Get Back tops UK chart, the only Beatles single to debut in the UK at #1. On it, Billy Preston receives a label-credit as "The Beatles with...", the only artist ever to do so. A few months later (11/1968), Preston is not credited on the "White Album" [because of its plain white sleeve (a reversal from Sgt.Pepper's lavish one)] because of his A&M Records' contract.

02/01/2008

This is possibly a bootleg album released in Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.***Nevertheless, a terrific 16-track CD issued at the time on EMI/Parlophone from 1963 to 1965.***B.J. Kramer, vcls (b. William Howard Ashton, 19 August 1943, Bootle, Merseyside; Mike Maxfield, lead gtr; Robin Macdonald, rhythm gtr; Ray Jones, bs gtr; Tony Mansfield, drums. http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/villa/9500/kramer.htm

09/11/2006

Who was/qui était Tomy The Londoner? Teenager, a Will Records subsidiary from Brussels or nearby.***Billy J. Kramer (b. William Howard Ashton, Aug. 19, 1943, Bootle, Merseyside) with The Dakotas included Kramer, vocals; Mike Maxfield, lead gtr; Robin MacDonald, rhythm gtr; Ray Jones, bass and Tony Mansfield, drums.***I'll keep you satisfied, group's third Lennon/McCartney-penned single, hitted UK #4 on 5th Nov. 1963, promoted by a 20-date UK tour titled "The Billy J. Kramer Pop Parade", with The Fourmost and Johnny Kidd & The Pirates.***This cover version of Bad to me by Lynn accompagnée par Les Witchdoctors was issued in November 1963 on Barclay.***A composition signed "LeMon-Mac Carney"!***Kramer's original - written by Lennon specifically for him - topped UK chart for 2 weeks (US, DNC) but was dethroned by The Beatles' She love you.***This song, having originally flopped in US, was reissued as B-side to Little Children. It picked up airplay in its own right and replaced its A-side in US Top 10, at #9 in July 1964.***The insert of the "J." - to distinguish him from other singers named Billy -on their first single Do you want to know a secret was an idea credited to John Lennon

18/06/2006

It was one of the great times in my life. Talking a few minutes with Bill Haley in person and with the other Comets (more of them were English musicians) as well!***CD Twist, (LP DIMSA, Mex #1, 1961), released in 1998 by Orfeon Videovox, México, including Mex #1 Florida Twist (Spanish vocal by Pedro Vargas de Tecalitlán); Silbando Y Caminando (I)***Twist Español (Spanish vocal by Bill Haley, May 1961 - original version of Spanish Twist, September 1961)***Tampico Twist (I)***La Paloma (I)***Caravana Twist (I)***Negra Consentida (I)***Tren Nocturno (I)***Actopan (I)***Mas Twist.

I went to see Bill Haley and "His" Comets at the Conservatory in Liege (I was distinguished guest) featuring William John Clifton himself, rhythm gtr & lead vocals; Rudy Pompilli (real name is RUDOLPH POMPILII [thanks, Chris, [the British pope on Bill Haley] : think I would have had to buy new spectacles :-)], tenor saxophone; Nick Masters (a.k.a. Nicholas Nastos), electric Spanish gtr and vocals; Ray Parsons, lead gtr and vocals; Ray Cowley, bass gtr & vcls and, Freddy Moore, drums. I recall this instrumental: "Beecher Boogie Woogie". Franny (Francis) Beecher, a member of the 1987 Bill Haley's Original Comets was of the Benny Goodman Orchestra, the Buddy Greco Trio, Santa Fe' Rangers, Buckaroo Rangers, The Tyrones ("Blast Off" (Decca 9-30643, 04/1958 [which still remains to date very expensive: 50 €!) from The Cues'"Destination 2165" original version released in May 1956 on EMI/Capitol Records F-3400. It was my pleasure to talk to Bill and notably about the "refugees" (or "spin-off band").He told me: "lotsa thanks with a kick-off at their derrieres" [trad.: "merci beaucoup avec un bon coup de pied au cul"]